help
How To: Quickly Contact Intelligent Life At XBOX Customer Service
Jason at Doombot has developed a process for reaching intelligent life at XBOX customer service. He discovered this easy 4-step procedure thanks to a XBOX 360 that enjoys not reading discs.
These Costco Guys Are Going To Assemble Your Table No Matter What
Unlike Drew’s story about IKEA from earlier today, Philip had what sounds like insanely good customer service from Costco—which is a good thing, since both the original table he purchased and the replacement table Costco’s delivery guys brought were missing key pieces.
Landlord's Crappy Boiler Costs Us Big Time
Marcie writes:
I live in a 750 square foot apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Per the lease agreement, my roommate and I signed to pay the heat separate from the rent. The first gas bill we received was $750, and the following gas bill was roughly the same amount. We knew that the price of gas was expensive, but for two people who make great pains to use the heat only when absolutely necessary, and occasionally use the stove to boil a pot of water, this seemed ridiculous. For all of 2007, we owe roughly $2000 in gas costs.
Disney Employees Dig Through Trash To Find Couple's Lost Wedding Rings
While on vacation at Walt Disney World, Paul and Karen (well actually just Paul) accidentally threw out their “engagement, wedding and five-year-anniversary rings.”
Air Canada To Charge Extra For "Specially-Trained" CSRs
Air Canada has heard you loud and clear, and they’re going to start making sure they have decent customer service reps on-hand to help you the next time your flight is canceled, delayed, or re-routed. And you’ll have to pay for it: “$25 one-way on short-haul flights and an extra $35 one-way on long-haul routes within North America.”
FDIC Call Center: Former Employee Says It's A Great Place For Bank & Credit Union Info
A former FDIC employee writes that the FDIC’s call center (877-275-3342) is “a tremendously helpful place to get basic referral information if you’re having trouble with your bank, lender, or finance company.” They can’t help you with complaints, but they can route you to the correct agency, provide credit union contact info, and give you the names and numbers of state agencies where your bank is located.
Tales Of Consumers Making Outrageous Requests
Quickly, I’m going through some final rounds of edits on an article I’m writing for Reader’s Digest and they want some tales (by the end of today!) of consumers making unreasonable and crazy requests (We need to round out a little counterbalance to the otherwise ass-kicking stories and tips about getting great customer service). Can you think of any? Either stories from our site or news stories you’ve seen or stories from your life.. So far we’ve got the judge who sued the Korean dry-cleaner for $54 million for losing his pants, the bride who sued a florist for $400,000 for using the wrong shade of flower, and a traveler who was kicked off a plane for refusing to remove her meter-long stuffed crocodile from the emergency exit aisle. Can you think of any others? Since we usually focus on good consumers and bad companies, it’s a little hard for me to come up with good examples! Leave your thoughts in the comments.
USPS & FTC Mail Out "Avoid ID Theft" Brochure
Today we received a handy brochure (PDF) in the mail from the postal service. “Deter, Detect, Defend,” it reads, and it offers a bunch of handy reminders of what to look out for when it comes to protecting your identity, and what to do if you suspect it’s been stolen. If yours was stolen (ha ha, we kid!), you can read read or download it from the FTC’s ID theft website.
How To Reset Your Password If Your Yahoo Account Is Hacked
A friend of a friend’s Yahoo account was hacked and now all the guy’s personal and professional contacts are getting emails saying that he’s stuck in Africa and needs to be wired money immediately. Here’s some solutions we found that might help him reset his password.
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If you’re facing foreclosure, you can call 888-995-HOPE and get free advice from non-profit counselors about how to save your house or at least minimize the damage.
Bush To Announce 5 Year Rate Freeze For Mortgages
Tomorrow, President Bush will outline a plan to freeze rates for 5 years for subprime mortgage loans that “originated between January 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, with rates that are due to reset between January 1 of next year and June or July of 2010,” reports Reuters.
What To Do When Rental Gets Foreclosed?
2 weeks ago both my wife and I got a summons, that let us know that our landlord was being sued by the bank he financed the house through, for not paying his mortgage since July of this year…
WorldCat Turns You Into A Library Power User
We’ve written before about the money-saving goodness called your local public library, but a lot of readers may not know about a powerful online search tool, WorldCat, that lets you search the holdings of 57,000 libraries in over 100 countries. Even better: “Tell it what book you’re looking for and your zip code or city, and it will pinpoint the nearest library that has the book.”
Verizon Keep Spraying Our Sidewalks With The Same, Three, Permanent, Dots
David would like to know if Verizon Fios techs can’t afford glasses. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to spray paint their sidewalk three times within the past year? The dots are supposed to indicate where to dig up to install the vaunted “last mile” of information HOV lane, but it really seems like overkill. After all, it’s not like they need to be concerned about the dots deteriorating. “It never goes away,” David writes us. “Brushes, power washing, passage of time — nothing.”
Washington Mutual Fraud Department Doesn't Feel Like Reimbursing Elderly Parents Defrauded For $1,100
I am writing this note today on behalf of my 80 year old parents who have been banking with Washington Mutual. My parents account has had 10 forged checks passed on their 3 of their bank accounts. The fraud department has reimbursed one of the accounts for 2 checks after faxing a copy of the police report. However, today, after 20 days now, the fraud department has not reimbursed the other accounts. I have called fraud department many times now in an effort to recapture these funds in the amount of $1,100.00. Quite frankly the department was very rude and has been giving my parents the run around!
Website Offers 411 For Financial Questions
In July, federal regulators launched a new website, HelpWithMyBank.gov, to answer your basic bank-related questions, as well as to provide an easy way to lodge complaints about any of the 1,800 offending financial institutions that fall under its purview. (Yes, that includes Chase and BofA.)
